In recent years, use of the Internet and the World Wide Web has increased greatly. Users having access to a computer, television access device, or some similar interface, can "browse" the web, viewing whatever information they choose. (This is usually done with a software program called a "browser"). As the web becomes more popular, however, the number of web pages has proliferated to the point that users often have a problem finding the information that they need or want.
Although the web has finally grown large enough to have information that is useful to many people, web users are frustrated. Information is difficult to find and the time required to view certain "slow" pages, which take a long time to load, is often unacceptable to users. In an attempt to address these frustrations, new types of services have arisen. For example, search engines and customized news filters have attracted millions of users. These services are generally free to users and are supported by advertising.
The existing approaches to delivering services on the Internet are inherently limited. Site-based services, such as search engines, rely on the user visiting their web site and "ping ponging" between their page and the pages the users may be interested in. "Server push" information delivery systems, such as filtered news services, suffer from the fact that they can select from only a small subset of the information available.
Currently, advertisers select web pages that they believe their target audience is likely to visit. For example, a luxury car company may advertise on a web site likely to be visited by high-income consumers. Alternately, certain web sties have tried to "target" their advertising based on the interests of the user. For example, certain search engine sites display different advertising for different users, depending on the search terms entered by the users. Thus, if a user enters the search term "car," the site displays ads targeted to car customers. One problem with such targeted advertising is that advertisers must still decide on which web sites to place their ads. Furthermore, the advertisers must decide which search terms are likely to be entered by their potential customers. Such targeted advertising is inexact at best. More importantly, many sites simply do not accept advertising. A car manufacturer's web site, for example, would not accept an ad from one of its competitors.
Another way of targeting advertising is for third-party advertising clearinghouses to develop a profile of a particular user visiting an affiliated web site, through instrumenting the web server software for the site. In this approach, when the user first visits a web site running this augmented server software, the server requests that the user's browser software permanently record an identifying string of characters (called a "cookie") in a file local to the user's personal computer. The server then records each web page visited on that site by the user and associates this usage trail with the cookie. The server software can then customize content (including advertising content) according to the interests evinced by the user's habits. Servers of different web sites all running this augmented software can pool data through the clearinghouse. The weakness of this approach is that it is only as useful as the fraction of servers running the augmented server software. The benefit to the user occurs only for a small percentage of his/her browsing experience.
In summary, the present structures for delivering web services are inadequate for both users and advertisers. Users need help in navigating the vast amount of information available on the web. What is needed is a way for users to see a "metaview" of available information and to be able to find the information that addresses their specific needs.
Advertisers, on the other hand, need a way to target users more specifically, without having to restrict their ad placement to the subset of sites willing to accept their advertising.